Encouraging you to encourage and invest in others.

What Will Set 2014 Apart from 2013?

So it’s March and we’ve all had two months to implement our New Year’s resolutions…how are you doing on some of yours?

While 2013 may have been a year filled with personal achievements, business growth, and financial gains, or event the complete opposite, I’d like to ask you what is going to make 2014 a better year than 2013.

Personally, I was blessed to undergo a tremendous amount of growth in 2013 throughout a variety of areas in my life. I was able to be a mentor to my brothers Vince & Dominic, serve others, develop interpersonal skills and communication, took part in a prison ministry, and most importantly, experienced one of the strongest years spiritually in my life.

I learned that in order to build up others, you have to start with yourself. As a house under construction must start with a solid foundation, the only one that can change (or rebuild) the foundation is you.

Be humble and allow yourself to be coachable, desire constructive criticism, and give others strength-centered comments to encourage them to excel. In addition to setting personal fitness or financial goals, set goals for yourself where you can see noticeable growth internally…and write them down. Look at them often. Realize what you’ve accomplished.

It is through servant leadership that we ultimately gain the respect of our peers. It’s not about a title, or the marketing campaign of the century, but rather about the individual’s sweat equity and time put into a particular task or project. When we see people in the trenches, working for their organization instead of just calling the shots, we see the humility of that person.

Thinking back to my college days sitting in Fraternity meetings and listening to reports and updates, one of our Fraternity presidents made it about us and not about him. He put in the time to serve and help strategize, but also took part in the “grunt work” (keeping the house clean, building a recruitment database, and encouraging Brothers in their activities). At the time, I looked at things like cleaning the house as a chore. However, as I look back, his servant leadership couldn’t have been clearer and spoke volumes. Sometimes the seeds we plant take time to grow before others notice a difference. Don’t let that discourage you.

I believe that empowering and investing in others builds lasting relationships. Taking time to listen to an individual share a struggle or an obstacle in their life opens the door for continued growth for both people.

We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. We can reflect on how we overcame obstacles and trials in the previous year and how we are going to use those lessons to invest in others and improve ourselves.

As you begin 2014 or actually start your new years resolution, I encourage you to reflect on how you would like to grow this year and who you should invest in. They say Super Bowl rings are won in July. What’s your game plan to win in December?

I’d suggest reflecting on a few questions:

What are some of your tangible goals for improving yourself?

How are you going to be a servant leader in your family, work place, and community?

Who do you need to invest in, listen to, or encourage?

To end with a quote: “What you do for yourself makes you successful, but what you do for others makes you significant.”

Thanks for reading! Feel free to send an email with suggestions or thoughts on how to improve my posts. If there is someone you think would benefit from this post, please pass it along.